South Yorkshire’s deputy chief fire officer is leaving the service after little more than a year in the job to take command of the Scottish fire service, it has been announced.

Martin Blunden took the job in the summer of last year, though he had been acting in the role on a temporary basis since January.

Now members of South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, the brigade’s ruling body, have been told that Mr Blunden has successfully applied for the role of chief officer in Scotland and is expected to leave in January.

He joined the South Yorkshire service in 2015 as assistant chief officer and had more than 20 years’ experience at that stage.

His most recent work in South Yorkshire has involved ensuring the service collaborates more effectively with other emergency service organisations.

His responsibilities also acting as the National Fire Chief’s Council lead officer for operational learning, working to ensure that experience gathered by firefighters dealing with incidents is used to help colleagues across the industry.

Fire Authority chairman Coun Chris Lamb said: “I would like to say a very big congratulations to Martin.”